FARM­ERS DE­MAND PAY­MENT

An­gry farm­ers from Ihindu vil­lage, Naivasha, have blocked the in­stal­la­tion of power lines.

They said they will not al­low the Kenya Elec­tric­ity Trans­mis­sion Com­pany to carry out the project un­til they are com­pen­sated. The 550KV line will see the coun­try im­port 400mw from Ethiopia. The project is ex­pected to be com­plete by 2018.

How­ever, farm­ers from the vil­lage blocked the power com­pany staff from erect­ing masts un­til their com­pen­sa­tion griev­ances are re­solved.

Farmer Joel Konyo said the com­pany had not fully en­gaged them in the project.

He said the com­pen­sa­tion cash that Ke­traco is of­fer­ing is lit­tle com­pared to the value of land. “The project will leave many peo­ple as squat­ters. We are ask­ing Ke­traco to en­gage all the af­fected farm­ers be­fore pro­ceed­ing with this project,” Konyo said. Area MCA Sa­muel Waithuki said there is need for con­sul­ta­tions from all the par­ties. He said that scores of fam­i­lies had been af­fected by the power line.